Bundesliga 2018/19

There is a big difference between demanding points and hoping for points.
I have little doubt that Düsseldorf did not expect to get any points in Munich and would've been "happy" with a 2:3.

Click to expand...

Not "demanding" points, but demanding to at least make a good attempt at stealing them. Something that most Bundesliga clubs haven't done for 5 years by now. Even Dortmund gave up against Pep's Bayern. I know what you mean, though. I'm just saying that football is one of the games where every team should be able to take points from the other, if the day is right and they have a bit of luck. It's why we love the game and it's still there, even if a team like Bayern seems dominant for a long time. That's why I dislike the whole "Bundesliga is boring" talk. It never is for a long time. I think we're well past the zenith of this particular Bayern team around Robbery and it'll be interesting to see if Coman and James can pick it up together with Thiago.

Bayern's game against Ajax in the Champions League appears to have been the turning point. Ajax completely dominated Bayern in the Allianz and appeared to be creating chances at will. . . Up to that point in the season Bayern were cruising and no one was questioning Kovac.

I wonder how many Bundesliga managers were looking at that thinking - "Hang on here. . .This is Ajax, not Barcelona".

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I meant. So, the current question is... how much suffering is Bayern willing to tolerate? Colleagues are speculating about Wenger, but I'm not a big fan of the idea of sacking Kovac already. They know the change to another team will be painful. At some point they have to jump over the hurdle and get rid of Robbery. Now's as good a time as any...

Julian Nagelsmann: "How would it have looked if we had played out a draw? It would be wrong after going 10 men down, to park the bus. Attack is the best form of defence and we wanted to win the power-play. We always want to win."
Inexperience
PSG fails to win tomorrow and Tuchel might also be out

Wont it be something if Tuchel and Naggelsman crash out of the groups while Kovac and Tedesco make it out of the groups

That game certainly does not win a beauty contest, but I expected nothing else. Freiburg defended well and offered nothing (both in the positive and negative sense). We struggle a bit with our chance conversion as of late so the game was close until the end. In the end we handled the game very professionally und deserved the win.

That game certainly does not win a beauty contest, but I expected nothing else. Freiburg defended well and offered nothing (both in the positive and negative sense). We struggle a bit with our chance conversion as of late so the game was close until the end. In the end we handled the game very professionally und deserved the win.

Click to expand...

Paco is still not starting games. I know it works at the moment with him scoring from the bench every single time, but at some point you are gonna lose points because he hasn't got enough time to do something and you needed him for 90 minutes. It could be also be very useful for you if you would lead 2-0 after the first half and can save some energy in the second, which many title-winning sides do. Reus having to play nearly every second in every game is not the best way to protect him from injuries and without him, you are 80% less likely to progress in the CL against a big team.

How many do you reckon is Paco gonna score in all comps, come the end of the season?

Paco is still not starting games. I know it works at the moment with him scoring from the bench every single time, but at some point you are gonna lose points because he hasn't got enough time to do something and you needed him for 90 minutes. It could be also be very useful for you if you would lead 2-0 after the first half and can save some energy in the second, which many title-winning sides do. Reus having to play nearly every second in every game is not the best way to protect him from injuries and without him, you are 80% less likely to progress in the CL against a big team.

How many do you reckon is Paco gonna score in all comps, come the end of the season?

Click to expand...

It's not like you can extrapolate Alcacer's G/M ratio, he doesn't transform Dortmund's attack into something else. With Götze Dortmund dominate their opponents and make them chase the ball and when they eventually tire and/or have to attack Dortmund get space for (counter) attacks and Alacer gets subbed in to finish them.

And Reus is playing as a #10 - Götze, Kagawa or Philipp are his potential replacements, not Alcacer.

Pack hasn't really impressed when he has started. He simply doesn't add anything to the build up of attacks and is purely a goal scorer, similar to Mario Gomez and Javier Hernandez.

His best impact comes when the opposition are tired and can be more likely to be caught on the counter. Paco had great speed on movement so all he has to do is get into the space and finish chances.

Paco needs to add more to his build up play to be able to start more. That doesn't mean he isn't an important player, his goals coming off are obviously vital and make Dortmund a really tough team to keep out for 90 minutes.

It's not like you can extrapolate Alcacer's G/M ratio, he doesn't transform Dortmund's attack into something else. With Götze Dortmund dominate their opponents and make them chase the ball and when they eventually tire and/or have to attack Dortmund get space for (counter) attacks and Alacer gets subbed in to finish them.

Click to expand...

Of course he won't score 3 when he plays 90 minutes, it is rather that his current form is not sustainable in any way. There will be a match where he won't score during the 30 minutes of playing time he is allowed to have, and then you wish that he would have had 90 minutes to try something.

At the moment he is scoring like peak Cristiano, but the only way for Cristiano to maintain his goal scoring statistics over the years was to play every second in every match and take many many shots, usually the most shots in Europe or something.

Of course he won't score 3 when he plays 90 minutes, it is rather that his current form is not sustainable in any way. There will be a match where he won't score during the 30 minutes of playing time he is allowed to have, and then you wish that he would have had 90 minutes to try something.

At the moment he is scoring like peak Cristiano, but the only way for Cristiano to maintain his goal scoring statistics over the years was to play every second in every match and take many many shots, usually the most shots in Europe or something.

Click to expand...

You have to remember Dortmund don't have an out and it playmaker other than Gotze, so they need contributions in the build from their strikers as well to insure a creative and constantly moving front 4. They can't rely on one playmaker to start passes like other teams imploying out and out strikers (though even those are rare these days). Paco currently doesn't offer that and the situation hasnt changed from the start of the season. At the start it was Phillip always starting and then being replaced by Paco, now it's Gotze.

Of course he won't score 3 when he plays 90 minutes, it is rather that his current form is not sustainable in any way. There will be a match where he won't score during the 30 minutes of playing time he is allowed to have, and then you wish that he would have had 90 minutes to try something.

At the moment he is scoring like peak Cristiano, but the only way for Cristiano to maintain his goal scoring statistics over the years was to play every second in every match and take many many shots, usually the most shots in Europe or something.

Click to expand...

But that's the thing, he's mainly finishing chances others (or circumstances) create for him, he doesn't create chances/goals out of nothing himself. A lot of these chances simply aren't there at the beginning of the match, no matter if he starts of not.
He scored 2 goals in the 5 games he started (2:0 and 3:0), on the other hand he scored 9 times (every single match) as a sub.

But that's the thing, he's mainly finishing chances others (or circumstances) create for him, he doesn't create chances/goals out of nothing himself. A lot of these chances simply aren't there at the beginning of the match, no matter if he starts of not.
He scored 2 goals in the 5 games he started (2:0 and 3:0), on the other hand he scored 9 times (every single match) as a sub.

Click to expand...

I can't talk about every match, but what about the matches against Augsburg, Bayern and Hertha, were Dortmund missed dozens of chances while Paco was out? These were very important moments where Dortmund needed a finisher on the pitch and there are always 2 spots in attack who are up for grabs because the other guys like Philipp, Pulisic, Goetze, Laarsen are not entirely convincing. I mean I understand it if everyone is playing great and you don't want to mess up with the form of the players, but that is not the case here. Especially the situation with Philipp starting at CF was baffling because Philipp is not a creative player in my opinion (and not a great CF as well, that is obvious).

I can't talk about every match, but what about the matches against Augsburg, Bayern and Hertha, were Dortmund missed dozens of chances while Paco was out? These were very important moments where Dortmund needed a finisher on the pitch and there are always 2 spots in attack who are up for grabs because the other guys like Philipp, Pulisic, Goetze, Laarsen are not entirely convincing. I mean I understand it if everyone is playing great and you don't want to mess up with the form of the players, but that is not the case here. Especially the situation with Philipp starting at CF was baffling because Philipp is not a creative player in my opinion (and not a great CF as well, that is obvious).

Click to expand...

Against Bayern Dortmund didn't create anything in the first half and from what I remember aside from the first couple of minutes things weren't that different against Augsburg either. Against Hertha he was injured. Against Bruges Alcacer neither had any good opportunity nor did he do more for the team than Götze normally does, despite starting.
Philipp doesn't start anymore, he only did so because Paco was unfit and Götze was in bad shape. Reus is set as #10, on the wings Favre wants/needs rapid players, so Sancho, Pulisic, JBL are the only candidates. It's not like he's spoiled for choice at the moment and the Götze+Alcacaer tandem seems to be very effective at the moment.

Bayern's game against Ajax in the Champions League appears to have been the turning point. Ajax completely dominated Bayern in the Allianz and appeared to be creating chances at will. . . Up to that point in the season Bayern were cruising and no one was questioning Kovac.

Click to expand...

By the time they played Ajax they had already draw against Augsburg and lost to Hertha.

Yes, I forgot that one and there were a couple of potentially deadly counter attacks that were screwed up in their tracks, but I wouldn't say that the game was lacking Paco's poacher qualities in the first half, it was messed up in midfield imho.

Werner is the wrong player for a team that has the ball. He is not the best as the lone striker - and he is not the right type of winger either.

Click to expand...

Wait until Nagelsmann worked his magic on him. Serge Gnabry was the worst kind of pace merchant before he went to Hoffenheim, nowadays I am really excited whenever he pops up in a team sheet for the NT. Usually there is always some kind of alignment between the styles of Germany and the NT and I would not rule it out that Werner and Gnabry make up 2/3 of the strike force at both Bayern and Germany for the next ten years.